There was a forecast of bad weather for today. At 9am it was not too bad, but bad enough not to try and take the ash out the door! So I decided we would not go to Lerwick for lunch with the Gibsons as usual. A good decision! By lunchtime there was a force 10 plus storm (100 mph recorded in Orkney and a little less here) blowing from the north. My wee gate/fence between the gardens was beginning to blow up in the air so I went out to weigh it down and quickly realised that it was in fact dangerous to be out there. I could hardly stand up and had to wrestle with the gate out of the garden.
I tried to take some photos through the window but the visibility was not too good! I can see where the phrase 'wave after wave' ... of attack, comes from. Looking out now, the half mile or so that I can see, are line after line of breaking waves with their tops sheared by the wind. The skerries are covered in white foam and the wind is whistling around the house, and somewhere the poor sheep are huddling behind a wall.
Surprisingly, the extension feels rock solid. The only problem is that the wind is creating a vacuum in the loft space and sucking up the hatch. Even with it left open several inches every now and again it lifts and begins battering away. I will need to fix a brick to its upper side!
Now, at 2pm, with the Orkney schools all shut and no ferries running, the forecasters say it will decrease to a severe force 9! Luckily, the tide seems to be at the bottom of the ebb at the moment so that the big waves are not at the top of the beach. By early evening when the tide is up, if the waves are still coming in as they are there may be damage to the Little Bousta track across the beach. It was in this sort of weather that I remember taking Sorley and Beth across the beach to get the school taxi, holding their hands to make sure they didn't get blown away!! Ah ... how boring this would have been in Forneth!
